Components Used

Identification

AVerMedia's website (cached) shows a unit with a glossy translucent blue plastic case, and the high-resolution marketing image (cached) shows an IR receiver on the board, possibly necessitating the translucent case. Production versions of the A868 with the translucent case, however, do not include this IR receiver component, and have an internal board & component layout identical to the opaque black version pictured on this page.

Note also that while AVerMedia literature refers to this device as the 'A868R', production devices (both black and blue versions) are labeled as model: 'A868' (no 'R').

Making it work

Using a kernel > 2.6.27,
required modules are:

dvb_core

dvb_usb

dvb_usb_cxusb

lgdt330x

mxl5005s

No firmware is needed, the EZUSB chip appears to load via I2C from an EEPROM.
Device must be connected to a USB 2.0 port to function.

Other Notes

(As of Dec 2008) This device seems to be universally on clearance and/or significantly marked down on both auction and common retailer's sites. Perhaps discontinued?